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Contentious divorce puts kids in middle

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Sandra M. Wilcox was right-on in last Sunday’s letter, “Balanced parenting sometimes harmful.” I would go further and say that our judicial system’s handling of divorce cases has ruined the lives of countless millions of our youths who have struggled to mature under the curse of quarreling parents.

Despite what politicians, and particularly judges, say, there is no such thing as a “no-fault” divorce; one or the other is at fault.

My wife and I saw the entire process played out in our grandchildren.

Politicians made the no-fault divorce laws to ease the overcrowded civil court dockets, untrained judges tried to implement them and family-law attorneys capitalized on the misery collectively inflicted on the children. All involved should hang their heads in shame.

I propose a two-part solution. First, require divorcing couples to attend training on how to minimize the impact of the separation on their children; no more of this mediation by amateur psychologists. Second, create nonprofit legal firms that have equal legal status with the parents’ attorneys, and represent only the children and what’s best for them. We need genuine help, not more problems.